Dongba Glyphs with a Semantic Index

(In Progress)

Dongba scripture preserved by Dongba Yang Zhashi (photo by Prof. Zhao Liming, July 2011, Yomi Village, Ninglang County, Yunnan Province)


Dongba script is a pictographic writing system still in use in Southwest China. The Dongba dictionaries provide valuable resources and should be used in complete synergy to build up a character repertoire. A semantic index with the pictographic radicals, along with other kinds of indexes, is necessary for an ideographic writing system such as Dongba script, while the studies on Dongba radicals are at a preliminary stage. This semantic index also contributes to show that similar markers arose in a logographic system.

The work starts from an indepth analysis of the Dongba glyphs documented in A Dictionary of Mo-So Hieroglyphics, compiled by Li Lincan, Zhang Kun in 1940s. Here is a list of 222 radicals (with related sections) elicited from the dictionary. Descriptions of the digital approaches and preliminary results can be found in Digital Approaches for Understanding Dongba Pictographs, International Journal of Digital Humanities, 2023, 4 (1):131-146.


Dongba Glyphs in A Dictionary of Mo-So Hieroglyphics

You can find the inventory of radicals and glyphs belongs to the radicals at Dongba Glyphs_Li et al (1972/2001).

Dongba Glyphs in Naxi Xiangxing Wenzi Pu

You will find the inventory of radicals and glyphs belongs to the radicals at Dongba Glyphs_Fang.

Dongba Glyphs in A 1Na-2Khi-English Encyclopedic Dictionary

You will find the inventory of radicals and glyphs belongs to the radicals at Dongba Glyphs_Rock.


WIKIPEDIA-Dongba symbols.

ScriptSource-Naxi Dongba.

Omniglot-Naxi (Naqxi geezheeq).

BabelStone-Naxi Dongba PUA Fonts.

Sinoglot-Naxi Script Resource Centre.

Pierre Evald-Naxi - pictographic script and complex religious practice.


Contact

You are welcome to file issues at duoduo-lab.